Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.

I was thinking about this last night, and thought I'd put a little notice up here in the Hospital forum that may help those of you outside the US who can not get their hands on Finquel or Tranquil brand fish tranquilizers. (At the time I write this, Finquel is available here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=12271)

These products are simply a name brand distribution of a laboratory chemical, tricaine methanesulfonate, also referred to as MS-222. This is a common chemical used in veterinary work with fish and reptiles, or on fish breeding farms (for food or ornamental).

**Also note, the spelling of the name brand is Finquel.. not Finquil. I make this mistake quite often and therefore can not find it when I am doing a search**

The chemical may be sold under a different brand name, or simply not available to the general public via fish stores the way it is in the US (and even here, we can have a heck of a time finding it, it is often on backorder).

You may have better luck contacting local veterinarians, especially those who practice in "exotic" animals, or search out fish breeding farms. The fish farms might not be able to sell you the product, depending on how it is regulated, but they may be able to help you find a source for it. I believe a veterinarian would be able to find the product for you, however you would have to discuss it with them to see if they would be able to sell it to you or if it is only usable under veterinarian supervision.

Ask for the chemical name, tricaine methanesulfonate or MS-222, not "Finquel", as they are not likely to have the specific brand name.

I hope this helps some of you who are having difficulty finding a more safe option for tranquilizing your fish than clove oil, as we are hearing more and more accounts of diminished health and even death of the fish after sedation with clove oil.

You can also get a 6% discount on all orders from there by setting up an acct at http://www.ebates.com & click on the DFS site from there. Get an extra $5 off your 1st order by giving them my email as a referal: luluwonderdog at yahoo dot com.

You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

MS-222, Finquel, Tricane-S is only available to Vet's in the UK, and they have to be the one's to administer it to the fish, so I dont think you'll have much luck getting a take-home supply.
Look for Koi sedatives like Kusuri Masuizai Koi Sedate, for legal reasons they are marked as sedatives, but they have much the same effect.

i have heard someone mention that koi sedative before somewhere , think i'll try to obtain some of that for next time i have to trim my saps teeth .....the uk seems to be a lot stricter than the us , when it comes to meds for some reason . Cheers